The companies below are involved in promoting mass tourism in Turkey.
The Thomas Cook brand can also be found in Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and China. Thomas Cook-owned tour operators in mainland Europe include Neckermann Reisen (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), Spies (Denmark), Ving (Norway and Sweden), Jet Tours (France) and Tjäreborg (Finland). Its airlines include Thomas Cook Airlines and Condor.
Thomas Cook wants to make big profits from its financial services, under the brand Thomas Cook Money, and is hoping to double its 3 million customers over the couple of years.
Over 19.1 million customers use Thomas Cook annually. However, 2018 was a terrible year for Thomas Cook, and at the end of the year, news reports stated that the company lost a third of its value.
One of Thomas Cook’s key destinations is Turkey, and the political situation in Turkey heavily effects whether the corporation makes much of a profit. The company is the UK’s largest carrier flying to the country. In its 2018 Summer Report, Thomas Cook pushed Turkey as its star destination. The company stated that:
“Package holiday bookings to Turkey are currently up 84% year-on-year. That popularity should continue as Turkey sees the highest number of return customers of any destination – 18%, up from 16% last year. And online it converts more lookers into bookers for Thomas Cook than any other destination even though it isn’t the top search term. Thanks to its keen pricing and quality all-inclusive product, it is families that are fuelling the extraordinary growth to Turkey…This summer 61% of package holiday bookings to Turkey are from families.”[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”black” style=”shadow” border_width=”2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Key people
Emre Berkin is a Non-Executive Director who previously held the same position at Turkish company Pegasus Airlines (see Pegasus page). According to Thomas Cook, Berkin has “Expertise in key destination markets, particularly Turkey.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Other Turkish hotels advertised by Thomas Cook
Titanic Hotels is owned and managed by AYG Group, a company that operates three luxury hotels on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, as well as more hotels in Istanbul and in Berlin. Titanic Hotels is a program partner of Turkish Airlines, a company with extremely close ties to the Turkish government and President Erdogan. The hotel chain also owns a luxury golf course in Belek, close to Antalya. Turkish Airlines is a main sponsor on the golf club’s website.
Paloma Hotels
With headquarters in Antalya, Paloma owns eight hotels on the west and south coasts of Turkey.
Sherwood Hotels
Sherwood has seven luxury resorts on the Turkish coast. The hotels are owned by the Turkish company Ceylan Isletme.
Stone Group Hotels
Seven massive, luxurious hotels on the Mediterranean coast owned by the Turkish company Stone Group.
Alba Group
Thomas Cook sells holidays to three five-star Alba hotels.
Thomas Cook-brand hotels in Turkey
Sentido & SunConnect
Thomas Cook-owned Sentido Hotels offers a number of four and five-star all-inclusive hotels on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The SunConnect brand of resorts is part of Sentido. SunConnect has a number of big hotels on the Turkish coast.
Cook’s Club
Attempting to appeal to a younger market, Thomas Cook has established Cook’s Club hotels, of which there is one in Marmaris.
Smartline
Thomas Cook’s Smartline brand has four hotels on Turkey’s coast.
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Turkish-owned hotels with links to the AKP advertised by Thomas Cook
IC Hotels, owned by Turkish company IC Holding, are luxury hotels in the Turkish Mediterranean. Thomas Cook sells them as all-inclusive package holidays.
IC Holding owns over 30 companies involved in construction, energy, tourism, industry, air and sea ports. The company’s Chairman, İbrahim Çeçen, has enjoyed a very cozy relationship with the AKP government for a long time, and even has a public university named after him in the city of Ağrı.He was awarded the State Medal of Distinguished Service in 2007. IC Holding has been awarded massive state contracts that include thermal power plants and hydroelectric dams, the building of the Istanbul-Ankara high-speed railway, as well as the construction and operation of airports. The Çeçen family entered the list of the top 100 richest families in Turkey, as part of the new ‘Islamic Bourgeoisie’.
In 2013, İbrahim Çeçen was named in an investigation as participating in leaked phone calls between government officials and business circles. In this investigation, he was accused of contributing to a fund to create a pro-government media, an order issued by Erdoğan himself. He is said to have pledged $100 million, and later promised $150 million because he was interested in constructing the third bridge over the Bosphorus (he won this contract with an Italian partner-company named Astaldi). The investigation was closed due to ‘lack of evidence’ in September 2014.
He has a historic villa on the shore of the Bosphorus, and he has been illegally renovating it despite its protected status.
IC Construction recently landed a massive contract for a new Turkish government building in New York, which “will house UN Permanent Representation and New York Consulate General offices as well as residential apartments on the higher floors reserved for diplomats.” Tayyip Erdoğan and many government officials attended the ceremony for the commencement of the construction.
(photo of Erdogan at IC’s new york construction: http://www.icholding.com.tr/EN/Anasayfa/haberdetay/president-erdogan-lays-the-foundation-of-the-new-turkish-cultural-center-being-constructed-in-new-york-by-ic-ictas-construction-73)
D Resort
The D Resort in Marmaris is a luxury hotel owned by Doğuş Holding, one of the top three private conglomerates in Turkey, which owns 250 companies. Doğuş’s Chairman, Ferit F. Şahenk, is one of the richest people in Turkey, and is a Board Member of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) of Turkey, which works with the Turkish government and focuses on foreign trade and investment.
Until recently, Doğuş had controlling shares of Garanti Bank, one of the largest banks in Turkey, and Şahenk was the Chairman. He now serves as Honorary Chairman. The bank’s Chairman, Süleyman Sözen, also serves on Doğuş boards. When Doğus Holding was in control of Garanti, the bank became one of the major funders of the Ilısu Dam, which is subject to massive protests as it will flood land in Bakur and displace up to 78,000 people.
Doğuş has a number of Turkish TV channels, including NTV, which came under fire from the public in 2013 when it failed to cover the Gezi Park protests and unrest against the AKP.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”TUI” tab_id=”1556147561010-10e80978-0cf5″][vc_column_text]In January 2019 the Telegraph, a right-wing UK newspaper, reported that
“Turkey has already seen dramatic rises in bookings for this year; its beautiful beaches and keen prices are hard for British families to resist.”
Like its rival Thomas Cook, German tourism company TUI profits greatly if tourism numbers to Turkey increase.
TUI, headquartered in Hannover, Germany, is the largest leisure, travel and tourism company in the world, and owns travel agencies, hotels, airlines, cruise ships and retail stores. The group owns six European airlines – the largest holiday fleet in Europe – and nine tour operators based in Europe.
The Telegraph article goes on to say that:
“TUI has also expanded capacity [in Turkey] for this summer, including its new Tui Family Life Ephesus, on the west coast.”
In addition, there are reports that TUI’s Sensatori Barut Fethiye Resort in Turkey will be extended.
In its financial report, TUI states that:
“our diversified portfolio means we will continue to benefit from growth in demand for Turkey.”
A list of TUI’s branches can be found here.
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Turkish-owned hotels advertised by TUI
D Resort
The D Resort in Marmaris is a luxury hotel owned by Doğuş Holding, one of the top three private conglomerates in Turkey, which owns 250 companies. Doğuş’s Chairman, Ferit F. Şahenk, is one of the richest people in Turkey, and is a Board Member of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) of Turkey, which works with the Turkish government and focuses on foreign trade and investment.
Until recently, Doğuş had controlling shares of Garanti Bank, one of the largest banks in Turkey, and Şahenk was the Chairman. He now serves as Honorary Chairman. The bank’s Chairman, Süleyman Sözen, also serves on Doğuş boards. When Doğus Holding was in control of Garanti, the bank became one of the major funders of the Ilısu Dam, which is subject to massive protests as it will flood land in Bakur and displace up to 78,000 people.
Doğuş has a number of Turkish TV channels, including NTV, which came under fire from the public in 2013 when it failed to cover the Gezi Park protests and unrest against the AKP.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Plush hotels in south-west Turkey owned (or franchised) by TUI
- Barut: Kemer
- Tui Sensatori Resort: Fethiye
- Tui Sensatori Resort: Sorgun
- Barut Arum: Side
- Barut Hemera: Side
- Barut Acanthus & Cennet: Side
- Tui Sensimar Andiz: Side
- Barut B Suites: Side
- Barut Sunwing Side Beach: Side
- Club Pamfilya: Side
- TUI Blue Pam Garden: Manavgat
- TUI Blue: Marmaris
- Akra: Antalya
- Akra V: Antalya
- Barut Lara: Kundu
- Hotel Mutlu Beach: Calis (near Fethiye)
- Hotel Oykun: Calis
- Hotel Club E: Calis
- Hotel Green Forest: Hisaronu (near Olu Deniz)
- Ramos Hotel: Hisaronu
- Hotel Yalcin: Hisaronu
- Papillon Ayscha: Belek
- TUI MAGIC LIFE Waterworld: Belek
- Sensimar Belek Resort & Spa: Belek
- Club Nobilis: Belek
- Barut: Kemer
- Club çamyuva: Kemer
- Pegasos Royal: Alanya
- Club Aqua Plaza: Alanya
- Hotel Serpina: Gumbet (near Bodrum)
- Palm Wings Beach Resort: Altinkum (near Bodrum)
- Bodrum Imperial: Akyarlar (near Bodrum)
- Club Masmavi
- Club Jacaranda
Overview:
THY is the flag carrier airline of the republic of Turkey, and one of the biggest airlines in the world. Half of the company is owned by the state. THY’s key people have very close ties to the AKP government, and a number of them went to school with Bilal Erdoğan, the president’s son.
THY flights to 122 countries, more than any other airline. Despite being the largest carrier in the world by number of destinations, THY announced an overall record loss of 1.9 billion Turkish Liras ($644.4 million) for the first half of 2016.
THY is a major sponsor of sports clubs, famous people, films and TV shows.
Turkish Technic is THY’s maintenance, repair and overhaul centre. Turkish Technic repairs aircraft and components for the Turkish military.
In the 1990s, as Turkey burned down Kurdish villages, people called for action against THY. In 1993, a THY office in Bonn was firebombed and an office in London was targeted. In 2015, as Turkey was obliterating Kurdish towns in Bakur, activists blockaded THY’s ticket office and check in at Venice Airport. Demonstrations have also been held at Heathrow.
In 2016, Turkish Airlines fired 211 employees over supposed links to Fethullah Gulen.
Turkish Airlines is rapidly expanding in Africa, and the continent is of growing economic importance to the Ankara government. Erdoğan’s interest in Africa is partly to crush the Gülen movement, which has been strong there.
Key people and their connections to the AKP government:
Mehmet İlker Aycı: Aycı is Chairman of the Board of Turkish Airlines. He took the role of Chairman in 2015, after the AK Party purged key people in the company and put their friends in top positions.
Last year President Erdoğan gave a speech, and was a witness, at Aycı’s wedding.
Aycı served as an advisor to Erdoğan back in 1994, when the president was Mayor of Istanbul. In 2011, Aycı once more answered directly to Erdoğan when he became head of the government agency ISPAT. The agency promotes investment in Turkey in industries such as arms manufacturing, tourism and mining.
Aycı has been the President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), an umbrella organisation of over 170 investment promotion agencies from 130 countries. Today, Aycı is also the President of the Audit Board of the Turkish Football Federation, which is sponsored by Turkish Airlines.
Bilal Ekşi is Deputy Chairman and CEO of Turkish Airlines. He joined the company in 2003, leaving in 2011 to work for the government’s Civil Aviation agency. He rejoined Turkish Airlines in 2016.
İsmail Cenk Dilberoğlu is a Member of the Board of Turkish Airlines. Bilal Erdoğan, Tayyip’s son, stated in a speech that “İsmail Cenk Dilberoğlu is the second person I meet the most after my wife.”
Dilberoğlu went to high school with Bilal Erdoğan. He was placed on the THY Board in 2015 after the AK Party gave key Turkish Airlines roles to their friends.
In 2009 he was elected as AKP councillor for Ataşehir in local elections.
Dilberoğlu is the chairman of the board of directors of the Ensar Foundation, an Islamic educational charity with close ties to the AKP. After the coup attempt in 2016, many of the schools affiliated with Fethullah Gulen were handed over to the Ensar Foundation, as well as the Turkish Youth & Education Service Foundation (TÜRGEV). In 2016, it came to light that a teacher at Ensar Foundation allegedly sexually abused 45 boys. The abuse was under-reported due to media censorship. Also in 2016, an Ensar Foundation teacher was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexual abusing teenage girls.
Dilberoğlu was Chairman of the AKP’s youth branches in 2001. He was an AKP provincial Councillor in Uskudar in 2004 and in Ataşehir in 2009. In 2018, he was rumoured to have made an application to be a parliamentary candidate for the AKP.
Arzu Akalın, who is one of President Erdoğan’s lawyers, is on board of directors of THY. She is president of TÜRGEV, which teaches more than 10,000 female students. Its dormitories are located all over Turkey, as well as in the US and the UK. Erdoğan was an instrumental supporter of the setting up of TÜRGEV. In 2016 the president said he has always supported the foundation and will continue to do so. After the so-called failed coup attempt in 2016, many of the schools affiliated with Fethullah Gulen were handed over to TÜRGEV and sister-foundation Ensar Foundation. Erdoğan’s son Bilal is the executive director of TÜRGEV. Esra Albayrak, daughter of Erdoğan, is on the board of TÜRGEV.
Bilal Ekşi is Deputy Chairman and CEO of Turkish Airlines. He joined the company in 2003, leaving in 2011 to work for the government’s Civil Aviation agency. He rejoined Turkish Airlines in 2016.
The revolving door between Turkish Airlines and the arms industry
Former Turkish Airlines CEO, Temel Kotil, left the company in 2016 to become President and CEO of the major arms company Turkish Aerospace Industries.
Turkish Technic:
Turkish Technic is the maintenance centre of Turkish Airlines. Its work includes repairing aircraft and components for the Turkish military.
In 2016 Turkish Technic signed a five-year contract to “provide logistic support services, planned maintenance and repairs for six Turkish Air Force Command Control aircraft.”
In 2015 Turkish Technic signed a contract with arms company Airbus in “developing its capability to provide long-term maintenance services initially for the A400M fleet of the Turkish Air Force.”
In December 2018, Turkish Technic signed a long-term contract with British arms/aerospace company Meggitt to provide the Turkish company with spares and maintenance parts.
Sport Sponsorships
THY is a leading sponsor of sports. It has sponsored the Turkish Football Federation and the Turkish National Team since 2008. It has also sponsored Beşiktaş football club for a number of years, and is the transportation sponsor of both Galatasaray and Trabzonspor.
THY has signed a sponsorship deal with Italy’s basketball league, Lega Basket Serie A, making it an official partner of the 2018-2019 season.
THY has sponsored a number of famous sports stars, including Lionel Messi, who has acted as the company’s global brand ambassador. A 2013 THY advert starring Messi was the most watched advert on YouTube in the year of its release.
In 2018 THY signed a deal with CNN, sponsoring the American channel’s TV show Quest’s World of Wonder, ensuring the Turkish Airlines billboards appear in every show.
Take action:
– Don’t fly with Turkish Airlines, and don’t holiday in Turkey
– Protest outside Turkish Airlines offices.
– Pressure websites and travel agencies not to sell Turkish Airlines
tickets. Protest outside their offices if they refuse to drop THY.
– Don’t let Turkish Airlines promote its brand through
sponsorship. Campaign to persuade sports teams, celebrities and TV
channels to drop their sponsorship deals with Turkish Airlines. [/vc_wp_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Pegasus” tab_id=”1556691012281-fb9ee701-42f4″][vc_column_text]
Overview:
Turkey’s second largest airline flys to 105 destinations in 41 countries. It is owned by the billionaire Sabancı family’s ESAS Holding.
Key people and their links to ecological destruction and the arms trade:
Pegasus is run by one of the most influential, wealthy families in Turkey – the Sabancı family. The airline’s parent company is Esas Holding. Esas is the largest family-owned investment firm in Turkey, founded by Şevket Sabancı.
According to the Forbes billionaires list of 2016, the Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey, with an estimated fortune ranging between $20-30 billion. Through sister-holding company Sabancı Holding, the family is the largest shareholder of AKBank, one of the biggest banks in Turkey. The bank was founded in 1948 by Hacı Ömer Sabancı, who became rich, in part, as a result of the Armenian Genocide.
Despite years of public opposition and protest, AKBank has stubbornly funded the highly controversial Ilısu dam being built on the Tigris river, which will flood the 12,000 year old town of Hasankeyf and displace up to 78,000 mostly-Kurdish people.
Pegasus Chairman, Ali Sabancı, is AK Bank founder Hacı’s Ömer Sabancı’s grandson. He began his career at Morgan Stanley, then worked in various positions at the family company AK Bank. He is a Board Member and 25% shareholder of Esas Holding.
He is married to Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, the Chairperson of Hürriyet, Turkey’s biggest selling newspaper. Vuslat is the daughter of billionaire tycoon Aydın Doğan of Doğan Holding, one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates. Doğan Holding owns Hürriyet, CNN Turk, Kanal D, Cartoon Network Turkey, and Fanatik.
Sabancı University and the Arms Trade
In 1994, Sabancı group established the Sabancı University in Istanbul. The university’s nanotechnology research center collaborates with Turkish arms companies ASELSAN, ROKETSAN and US arms company Lockheed Martin.
These companies arm the Turkish military and are therefore complicit in the government’s killings in Rojava and Bakur. The Nanotechnology department is funded by the British Council, as well as other organisations.
Sabancı University has signed a Researcher Training Agreement with the Turkish government’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, as well as “the leading companies in the industry as part of the program to train researchers for the defense Industry.” A press release states that “The program will enable systematic flow of information between defense industry companies and universities…and will ultimately help to meet the need for qualified R&D personnel in the defense industry.”
Tourism
Sabancı group’s Tansa company owns the Adana Hiltonsa, Mersin Hiltonsa and Hilton Parksa hotels. It also owns a majority stake in Ankara Enternasyonal Otelcilik, the owner of Ankara Hiltonsa. The hotels are operated by the Hilton Group.
The Sabancı family’s links to the French government and corporations
In February 2018, Ali Sabancı was awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French government for contributions to bilateral economic relations between Turkey and France.
Sabancı Group jointly operates the French supermarket Carrefour in Turkey under the name CarrefourSA.
Sabancı’s vehicle manufacturing company, Temsa, states that today, there are 5,000 Temsa branded buses on the roads of France.
Sabancı and European insurance companies
In Turkey, Sabancı has a joint venture with Aviva, the UK’s largest general insurer and leading life and pensions provider. The Turkish-UK company is named AvivaSA. In its 2017 annual report, Sabancı states that AvivaSA has the “leadership position in private pension fund size.”
Sabancı also has a joint venture with Belgian insurance giant Ageas. The insurance company, named Aksigorta, has 2.4 million clients. Ageas is Belgium’s largest provider of insurance, and Ageas also wholly owns the subsidiary Ageas Insurance International, which is the UK’s third-largest provider of private vehicle cover and fourth-largest provider of travel insurance through subsidiaries such as Kwik Fit Insurance. Ageas Insurance International also operates in France and Hong Kong and holds partnerships or joint ventures in Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand.
Take Action:
– Don’t fly with Pegasus
– Boycott all companies owned by the Sabanci Group, over Sabanci University’s collaboration with the arms trade, and AK Bank’s funding of the ecologically destructive Ilısu dam project
– Boycott Sabanci Group’s hotels
– Pressure Carrefour, Ageas and Aviva to break their partnerships with Sabanci
– Boycott Sabanci university over its collaboration with the arms industry, and complicity in Turkey’s war on the Kurds.
– If you are a student or academic, pressure your institution not to enter into partnerships with Sabanci university.
Basic company information:
Global Presence:
Headquartered in Istanbul, Pegasus is a low-cost airline, and the second largest airline in Turkey, flying from all over Europe to Turkey’s tourist destinations.
The company had 27.82 million passengers in 2017, although in 2016 Pegasus announced severely decreasing passenger numbers.
Type of business:
34.5% of shares are publicly traded on BIST (Borsa Istanbul stock exchange), 65.5% belongs to Esas Holding, and the rest is owned by Sevket Sabanci and his family.
Founded:
1990
Number of employees:
5,257
Traded on:
Bursa Istanbul (BIST)
Turnover:
TL 5.3 billion (2017)
Net profit:
TL 501 million
Key people:
Ali Sabancı
Pegasus subsidiaries
Pegasus Asia (49%)[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”SunExpress” tab_id=”1556691847090-71367cb0-89f4″][vc_column_text]
Ownership:
SunExpress is wholly owned by Turkish Airlines, which is deeply enmeshed with the Turkish state and the Erdoğan family (See our background information on Turkish Airlines).
Sponsorships:
SunExpress sponsors events such as the football match of German Legends, known as the “SunExpress Legend Game.”
The airline also cooperates with movie companies and film studios, such as Universal Pictures, to promote films onboard its flights by giving out promotional material. It even decorates the outer aircraft with film imagery.
The airline also cooperates with movie companies and film studios, such as Universal Pictures, to promote films onboard its flights by giving out promotional material. It even decorates the outer aircraft with film imagery.
Global Presence:
Headquartered in Antalya, SunExpress flies to 107 destinations in Europe, Asia and Africa, with a focus on flights between Germany and Turkey.
Take action:
– Don’t fly with SunExpress and its parent company Turkish Airlines.
– Persuade German bus company FlixBus to cut its ties with SunExpress. FlixBus services are advertised on the SunExpress website. @FlixBus
– Write to film studio Universal Pictures, telling that that advertising with SunExpress is bad for their image, as it links them to the Turkish state fascism. @UniversalPics
Basic company information:
Type of business:
A joint venture, SunExpress is 50% owned by Turkish Airlines and 50% owned by German company Lufthansa.
SunExpress Deutschland is a subsidiary, located in Frankfurt.
Founded:
1989
Number of employees:
4,000
Turnover:
1.15 billion Euros (2017)
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